The Copper Scroll-3Q15, a new reading, translation and commentary
General Material Designation
[Thesis]
First Statement of Responsibility
J. K. Lefkovits
Subsequent Statement of Responsibility
L. H. Schiffman
.PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION, ETC
Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.
New York University
Date of Publication, Distribution, etc.
1993
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
Specific Material Designation and Extent of Item
1300
DISSERTATION (THESIS) NOTE
Dissertation or thesis details and type of degree
Ph.D.
Body granting the degree
New York University
Text preceding or following the note
1993
SUMMARY OR ABSTRACT
Text of Note
In March 1952 scholars discovered two brittle copper rolls in Qumran Cave 3 in the Desert of Judah near the Dead Sea. When cut open in England in 1956/57, the two rolls turned out to be a single document, and it was named as Copper Scroll - 3Q15. It is currently in the Museum of Amman, Jordan. To date there are four scholarly editions of the scroll which consists of about 3000 Herodian Hebrew square characters, many sets of numerical signs and Greek letters. It has been dated palaeographically to 25-75 C.E. There are many inherent problems in reading and interpreting the text resulting from indistinguishable characters, haphazardly used final letters, non-grouped letters, continuous script, lacunae, cracks, damages, scribal corrections and errors, inconsistent orthography, letter interchanges, usage of unique words, etc. The language of the text can be called 'proto-Mishnaic,' resembling the Bar-Kokhba letters and Mishnaic Hebrew. It catalogs sixty descriptive units or items hidden at various locations throughout Roman Palestine. Each item has some information about the nature and location of its contents. This study includes a new reading and translation of the text as well as an extensive commentary. It provides new and novel interpretations of many words, such as kele usddema\sp\primeusd, and a key abbreviation, kk. The commentary relies heavily on the Masoretic Text, Mishnah, Tosephta, Midrashim, Targumim, Talmudim, Elephantine, Hebrew, Phoenician, Moabite and Aramaic inscriptions, etc. The Copper Scroll is an unusual and mysterious document. It remains a question whether it refers to real or imaginary objects. There is reason to believe that it is a genuine document listing treasuries of the Second Temple of Jerusalem hidden by its priests. This work contributes to the knowledge of Hebrew used at the time of the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in general, and the Dead Sea Scrolls in particular. It also sheds new light on the meaning of the Copper Scroll. Nevertheless, it is doubtful whether the unabridged version of the Copper Scroll mentioned at the very end of the text, will ever be found. Thus, the mystery of the Copper Scroll may never be solved.